24
by Red Ink Madame
Summary: She stood on the edge and watched as the traffic passed. If she had been entirely honest, she knew why she standing on the edge of a building. She wanted to do it, she wanted to jump. But then it would be too predictable and she hated predictable.


**A/N: **Originally posted this story a year ago on livejournal. This was the first angst themed Jibbs fic i'd ever published, this was also the first ever Jibbs fic. This one's for **Kay-pwns**, who gave me the final push i needed to publish this fic and who inspired me to write many more. Anyway the story has not been beta'd. Let me know if you think it should. Ah oh and as always read, review and enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER:** Oh the wicked wicked things i could do if i owned NCIS, but since i don't a girl can dream right?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Been given 24 hours <strong>_

_**To tie up loose ends **_

_**To make amends**_

She stood on the edge and watched as the traffic passed. If she had been entirely honest, she knew why she standing on the edge of a building. She wanted to do it, she wanted to jump. But then it would be too predictable and she hated predictable. So she didn't jump, she just stood there and closed her eyes instead.

_**His eyes said it all **_

_**I started to fall **_

_**And the silence deafened**_

The look on his face was why she was here, standing on the roof, looking like she was going to jump. The hurt. The Betrayal. His eyes had said it all. She saw the anger, the pain and the almost hatred for what she had done. Though she knew he wouldn't hate her. She was sure he'd come close. she'd pushed him. Maybe too far. Maybe just enough. Maybe over the edge.

_**Head spinning round **_

_**No time to sit down **_

_**Just wanted to **_

_**Run and run and run**_

And If he hated her, she wouldn't blame him. She'd understand. She had gone behind his back, used one of his agents for some silly little obsession and a stupid need for revenge that had almost cost him his life. It was because of her that Tony was almost blown to shreds. Though he hadn't been. She still felt guilty. It was her fault.

_**Be careful they say **_

_**Don't wish life away, **_

_**Now I've one day**_

"Jen, don't jump."

She heard his voice and couldn't stop the retort that slipped so easily from her lips.

"What makes you think I am going to jump?"

A trace of amusement could almost be heard in her voice as she didn't move. Didn't step back from the edge and kept her eyes shut.

"You're standing on the edge of the building."

And for a moment a small smirk crossed her face as Jethro stated the obvious.

"And that makes you think I am going to jump?"

"I don't know Jen. I don't know with you anymore. I don't know what you're capable of anymore I thought I knew you, who you are or were. but I don't think I ever did. Not the real Jenny Shepard."

_**And I can't believe**_

_**How I've been wasting my time**_

His words cut through her like a sharp knife, cutting her into pieces with every word and in an Ironic twist she felt the anger and pain, she had seen in his eyes. Tears that she had held back. Kept at bay. Finally broke free. But she refused to break-down, she refused to be vunerable and helpless. She refused to let him see her like this. So she lifted her hand to her face.

_**In 24 hours they'll be **_

_**Laying flowers **_

_**On my life, it's over tonight**_

And that's when happened. Her balance faltered. Her sense of equalibriam gone. Her sense of balance failing her when she needed it most.

_**I'm not messing no I **_

_**Need your blessing**_

_**And your promise to live free**_

_**Please do it for me**_

Jethro watched as the scene slowly unfolded in front of him. Watched as everything slipped into slow motion and watched as her body swayed slightly and threatened to tumble over the edge.

_**Is there a heaven a hell **_

_**And will I come back **_

_**Who can tell**_

He raced forward. Without thinking. He didn't need to. All he wanted to do was save her. Later he would think it sounded cliché. But later he would also realize that she didn't just need to be saved from the edge of building. But from the horrid darkness that had consumed her as well.

_**Now I can see **_

_**What matters to me **_

_**It's as clear as crystal**_

Somehow Jenny didn't panic. She didn't scream. She didn't feel fear or terror. She just felt calm. A sense of calm, that could be found at the eye of any storm. It was deathly calm. A frightening one.

_**The places I've been**_

_**The people I've seen**_

_**Plans that I made **_

_**Start to fade**_

She hadn't thought it would end quite like this. Her failing off the edge of a building. She'd always glamorized her death somehow. Her dying in a fire fight. A shoot out. Though nothing as cliched as a western. Somehow falling off a building had just never entered her mind.

_**The sun's setting gold **_

_**Thought I would grow old, **_

_**It wasn't to be**_

In the split second between her falling off the edge and falling to her death. He caught her. Snaked his two strong, battle-scared arms around her waist. Pulling her off the edge and against his body as she breathed in his scent and her carefully built walls came crumbling down.

_**And I can't believe**_

_**How I've been wasting my time**_

He held her as the tears came. As she clung onto his shirt and the tears turned into sobs.

He whispered soothing words into her ears and ran a hand through her hair as she no longer held in the emotions that almost sent her to her death.

I_**n 18 hours they'll be**_

_**Laying flowers **_

_**On my life, it's over tonight**_

_**I'm not messing no I**_

_**Need your blessing**_

_**And your promise to live free**_

_**Please do it for me**_

Slowly, she pulled back. Slowly, she looked him and slowly, she took a breath as the reality of just moments before hit her. Hard.

"Why are you doing this? Holding me? You should hate me for what i've done."

She whispered the words almost despairingly, waiting for the moment to come. When he'd tell her that he hated her and walk away. But the moment didn't come and instead he looked at with slight confusion and surprise.

_**In 13 hours they'll be**_

_**Laying flowers **_

_**On my life, it's over tonight**_

_**I'm not messing no I**_

_**Need your blessing**_

_**And your promise to live free**_

_**Please do it for me**_

"I don't hate you Jen. I could never, would never hate you. I love you too much to do that."

And there it was. He'd said it. The three words she given up hearing years before. Somehow they seemed appropriate. In the moment. After what had happened. She knew he wasn't one for words. Had never been. But that's who he was. That's who she had known him to be. A man of few words, who let his action do the talking instead. But those words have been what she needed, she need his comfort and his strength. Everything she didn't or maybe never had.

_**I'm not alone, I sense it, I sense it**_

_**All that I said, I meant it, I meant it**_

_**And I can't believe**_

_**How much I've wasted my time**_

"I am holding you because I love you Jen, because I almost lost you Jen."

The three little words appeared again and Jenny felt as though she had almost drowned under the weight of the secrets she kept hidden and the emotions she kept buried. He had brought them to the surface with those words and it all became too much.

_**In just 8 hours they'll be**_

_**Laying flowers **_

_**On my life, it's over tonight**_

_**I'm not messing no I**_

_**Need your blessing**_

_**And your promise to live free**_

_**Please do it for me**_

"I am sorry."

To him her voice sound broken, haunted by the burden of secrets and emotions she'd been carrying for too long. So as she buried her head against his chest. He rubbed her back and soothed her troubled and tormented soul.

_**In just 1 hour they'll be**_

_**Laying flowers **_

_**On my life, it's over tonight**_

_**I'm not messing no I**_

_**Need your blessing**_

_**And your promise to live free**_

_**Please do it for me**_


End file.
